Elastic leather.



M. SCHEUER.

ELASTIC LEATHER. APLlcATloN FILED ocT. 4. 1912.

1,183,037. Patented May16,1916.

STATES :PATENT OFEICE.-

MAURICE SCHEUEB, F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOB., ZBYv MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

AMERICAN BELT CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. .Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW ELASTIC LEATHER.

yTo all/'whom it may concern;

Be it known 'thatL Mannion Sonne-an, a

is the production of this material with a lleather is desirable.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a view of o ne stage of manufacture of the material; Flg. 2 a longitudinal sectional view of the strucf gether :form a completed webbing.

city, county, and State of New Yor have .invented a new and useful Im rovement 1n Elastic Leather, of which .the ollowing. 1s a specification.

My invention relates to stretchable or elastic leather made by combining leather with an elastic foundation and my obJect uniform adhesion over the entire surfaces in contact thereby producingia neat, uniform ap earance without blistering or buckling.

eretofore attempts to produce such material have` resulted in a .product with a blistered and uneven surface. The new material is intended for use primarily in making apparel belts but its use is not limited to this purpose as it is suitableA for many gores,inwhich an elastic things, such as shoe ture of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a cross section of an apparel belt-made of the material of'Figs.

1 and 2; Fig. 4.- a view of a modified form of belt material; Fig. 5 a crossl sectional view' of a belt made of the material shown in Fig.

4.-; and Fig. 6 a face view nished material.

One way to make my material is to take a piece of elastic material such as a stri of webbing with longitudinal elastic or ru ber cordstherein, marked 1, and impregnate or coat the same with a suitable size which 4may be permitted to dry. A strip of webbin of this character consists of a plurality ofgindividual rubber strands which are held toby inclosing threads united in a transverse direction by cross threadsso as to When such webbing is impregnated and sized -it 4is the threads rather vthan the rubber component of a portion of the which is thus impregnated and when later the facing yofga normally non-elastic sheet such as leather is cemented to the webbing plicity of adhering contacts minutely spaced apart are-formedV whlch points of contact lare tensionally drawn close together by the retraction'v of the webbing from its'initially stretched adherngposition. In .this way tionable blisterin l elastic and nonne astic components as well* Patented May 1 6, 191e.

the rubber itself isallo'weda freedom of motion` and of adjustability with respect to varlous strains u on the belt or other structure and the rubber may exercise these capacities without disrupting the union between the threads o f the webbing and the non-elastic facing, thereb avoidmg l objecor buc ling between the as the formation of irregular and protruding ridges or wrinkles on'the Vsurface of the facing. A soft leather 2 is also sized with a suitable size such 'as thin rubber solution and dried. `I have found vthat thin glue 'serves as a size for the'webbing and thin rubber solution asa size for the leather but do not limit myself to these materials. The sized fabric 1 is then stretched and coated with a suitable elastic cement and the sized leather is also coated with the suitable ce' is then vlaid on the foundation and the two pressed" into intimate contact soV that ad= hesion occurs over the entire surfaces in con- 'tact and the cement is permitted to set while fabric is released and the material shrinks to the normal length of the nishe'd product.

By stretching the foundation .fabric toits limit of elasticltyand the leather not quite to its limit of elasticity the finished product ,75 ment and stretched to its limit. The leather v .ment has set the tension on the composite will be of such nature Ythat .it cannot be .sufficiently stretched in use to break the leather as'might be' the'case if 'the' fabric were originally stretched partially and aplied to the leather 'in whichV event' the eather would be stretched past its breaking point before the foundation Ifabric reached its limit of elasticity.

If desired only, one of the materials maybe coated with cement although the best re" sults areobtained by coatin'gboth. I have also found thatsizing the v,woven 'elastic' fabric alone will enable adhesion to` occurbetween the surfaces in contact when the cement is applied` but the results have not been satisfactor unless both materials are sized.'

. Where e materials' have been/ sized as v hereinabove explained, the structure is thus i composed of substantially yfour layers: the

leather, the size or cementbetween the leather and the webbin threads, the webbing threads, and the ru ber core.

I have also found that by varying the tension on the elastic foundation or varying the product or a thicker leather with a given l tension the coarser the grain. I have also tion in Fig. 3.

found that the natural grain of grained leathers is enhanced in like manner that is,

the more the elasticfoundation is stretched with a given grain, leather the greater the enhancement of the grain.

In preparing the material to make a covered belt of single thickness as shown in Figs.A l, 2 and 3 the fabric 1 is sized, stretched and has the cement applied and is covered with the sized, cement coated leather 2, wider than the fabric. The leather is then turned over the edges-*of the fabric and secured to the back in the same manner that it was secured to the front resulting in the product shown in cross sec- Instead of completely covering the back of the webbing the edges of the leather may extend slightly overv the edges of the fabric and this material used to make the type of belt shown in Figs.' 4 and 5 in which the longitudinal edges of the composite fabric are sewed together at 3 and the webbing l.

cemented together with the leather facing 2 on the outside making the integral structure shown in It has been the foundation in spots making .an unsightly I and uncommercial product. l,

As explaining the phenomenon that a normally non-elastic sheet such as leathermay be affected bythe process asherein de scribed', this is presumably due to the fact that such sheets though non-elastic in com position are nevertheless composed of a multiplicity of very finely interlaced fibers. Whenel connection such as is formed between the' sheaths which inclose the rubber and the inner surface of the facing is made, -this connection ,being between the rubber 'inclosing thread on the one hand and the inner fibers of the facing on the other (especially where an elastic cementing layer interposes between the two) gives the ne ilamentary constituents of the united fibrous structure an opportunity to rearrange their positions relatively to each other according to the particular degree of tension which may be o erative in anyvparticular part of the ru ber 4 firmly united.

5. ound .from many experi-v ments that unless the elastic fabric, and

nated with a suitable size, a facing of leather also impregnated with a size and cemented to the elastic material while both are undertension, the entire surfaces in contact being firmly united.

2. .An elastic leather structure composed .of a foundation of webbed elastic" Yfabric impregnated with a size, a facing of leather also impregnated with a size and cemented to the fabric .while bothv are under tension the entire surfaces in contact being' firmly united, the composite material being folded over with the leather on the outside and the fabric cemented together whereby an integral structure is produced.

3. An elastic structure composed of a foundation of elastic webbing comprising a plurality of individual rubber strands held together by inclosing threads to form a surfacing layer thereon, the thread portions of said webbing being impregnated with a size, a facing which consists vof a normally non-elastic brous vsheet cemented to the webbing material while both are under tension, the entiresurfaces in contact being et. An elastic leather having a crinkled grain composed of a foundation of webbed elastic fabric impregnated with a size a facing of soft, smooth-faced leather cemented' to the fabric while both are under tension, the-entire surfaces in contact' being rml united, whereby the leather 'assumes the simulation of a natural vgrain. on the removal of the tension.

5,.' An elastic structure composed of a foundation of elastic webbing comprising a plurality of individual transversely ,con-

'from blisters and' wrinkles.

6. The process of making elastic leather consisting in treating a foundation of nected lrubber strands held together by inare under' tension.

` 7. The process of making elastic leather" consisting in im regnatin a foundation of a size, impreg- 10 nating a'leather facing with-a size, stretchwebbed elastic abrio lWit ing the fabric and leather, applying acoat of elastic cement and uniting the' two while both are under tension. In testimony l whereof I `have hereunto subscribed my name in the attesting' witnesses.

witnesses:

` 'Rom'. B. Knmolm,

D. Mmm.

presence of. two 15 MAURICE s cHEUEn 

